


you're the only one that'll ever know

by ShyAudacity



Category: Riverdale (TV 2017)
Genre: Angst, Archie Andrews & Betty Cooper Friendship, Archie Andrews Needs a Hug, Betty Cooper is a Good Friend, Delirium, Exhaustion, F/M, Gen, Grief/Mourning, Hurt Archie Andrews, Hurt/Comfort, Movie Reference, Nightmares, Other characters mentioned - Freeform, Panic Attacks, Past Character Death, Protective Jughead Jones, Tenderness, Worried Betty Cooper, bughead is only background really, just a bit, kind of idk - Freeform, only mentioned really
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-20
Updated: 2019-10-20
Packaged: 2020-12-27 01:08:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,831
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21110189
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ShyAudacity/pseuds/ShyAudacity
Summary: “You didn’t hear him on the phone, Jug.” Betty interrupts. “It was like he swallowed a straw then tried to breathe through it.”Ten minutes ago, she got a phone call from Archie- the same Archie who she hasn’t heard from in two weeks- and the whole thing left her uneasy. She could barely understand what he was saying; Archie was stumbling over his words and not making any sense; it was enough to make her get Jughead and find her keys to the car, determined to go find Archie- where ever he is.ORArchie is Not Having A Good Time and he and Betty have a much needed talk.





	you're the only one that'll ever know

**Author's Note:**

  * For [saltslimes](https://archiveofourown.org/users/saltslimes/gifts).
  * Inspired by [How to Decay Gracefully](https://archiveofourown.org/works/20946395) by [saltslimes](https://archiveofourown.org/users/saltslimes/pseuds/saltslimes). 

> I blame saltslimes for this but also I'm grateful cause they wrote a great fic. I'm tired of looking at this doc so I'll come back and make better edits later. 
> 
> Unbeta'd and title from Little House by The Fray.

“Maybe it was nothing,” Jughead says. “He probably just butt dialed you-.”

“You didn’t hear him on the phone, Jug.” Betty interrupts. “It was like he swallowed a straw then tried to breathe through it.”

Ten minutes ago, she got a phone call from Archie- the same Archie who she hasn’t heard from in _two weeks-_ and the whole thing left her uneasy. She could barely understand what he was saying; Archie was stumbling over his words and not making any sense; it was enough to make her get Jughead and find her keys to the car, determined to go find Archie- where ever he is. 

Both of them know that Archie’s been having a hard time lately. They’ve both tried reaching out to him, together and separately, but all of their attempts to help have been ignored or flat out shut down. It’s frustrating, knowing that their friend is hurting and not being able to much about it.

It’s annoying how Archie won’t let them _help_.

Betty sits shotgun, navigating while Jughead drives. She’s using the find your phone app, trying to track Archie down. They’re driving through a part of Pickens Park that she hasn’t seen in years. What the hell could Archie be doing all the way out here?

“I don’t see the truck anywhere- are you sure this is the right spot?”

“It says his phone is somewhere around here,” Betty looks up for a split second, noticing someone on a park bench. A patch of red hair. “Jughead, wait. Up there!” 

Jughead parks at the curb a few feet away from the bench; both of them scrambling to get out of the car after seeing Archie.

Archie is sprawled out on his back across the park bench with his legs hanging off the edge. His cell phone is face down on the sidewalk like he’d dropped it there or it fell out of his hand. Archie, on the other hand, doesn’t even seem to notice his friends. He’s staring straight up at the sky but not looking at them at all. His brown eyes are glazed over and hooded- it’s like he’s stuck somewhere behind them. A place that Betty and Jughead can’t reach.

“Archie?” Betty says, growing nervous when he doesn’t react. “_Hey_, Arch.”

When Betty touches his shoulder, Archie curls away from the touch, almost falling off the bench all together. He picks his head up and blinks a few times, some clarity coming back to him as he sits up. “Betty?” Archie mumbles.

The longer she looks at him the more she notices how gaunt he is- how he’s still not quite there. “What are you doing all the way out here?” She asks, “Where’s your truck?” 

Archie looks around like he’d forgotten he was somewhere other than at home. “I don’t, uh… I think I walked.”

“You walked?”

“Yeah, I- I wanted to clear my head.” 

Jughead whispers in Betty’s ear over her shoulder. “This is like five miles from his house, why would he come all the way out here on foot? Are you sure he’s not high or something?”

Betty glances back at him, almost glaring. “We can figure that out later. Let’s just get him in the car for now- he could be sick or something.”

“Yeah, but-.”

“Jughead?” Archie interrupts as if he’d only just noticed the boys presence.

Jughead musters a smile. “Hey, Arch. You had a worried there for a minute.”

Archie blinks at him slowly; it’s hard to tell if he’s actually understanding any of what’s happening right now. He looks _exhausted_. 

Betty watches as Archie tries to stand up, fumbling as he goes. She reaches out to steady him but he walks away from her, not even acknowledging her presence. When Archie starts moving in the opposite direction of the car, Betty and Jughead share a look. This is going to be trickier than they originally thought.

Jughead takes four quick steps, coming around in front of Archie. He places a hand on Archie’s chest, keeping him in one spot; Archie keeps looking at a spot over Jughead’s shoulder, something that isn’t actually there and his hands twitch nervously at his sides. Jughead decides to try something else. 

“Archie,” he says, coaxing as much as he can while still being firm. “Hey, pal. Can you look at me for a minute?”

It takes him a second but Archie’s eyes finally shift over to Jughead. He’s still cloudy and vacant- but he seems to be listening; Jughead moves the hand that’s not on Archie’s chest to the back of Archie’s neck, hoping that it’ll bring him back a bit more.

“We just wanna take you home. Alright? That’s it. You wanna do that? You wanna get in the car for me?”

After a pregnant pause, Archie nods slowly then lets Jughead direct him towards the car with a gentle hand; Betty trails along next to Jughead, her hand on Archie’s other shoulder. 

Archie sags into the upholstery as soon as he’s in the backseat and Betty slides in on the other side, wanting to keep a close eye on him. She can see him slipping both mentally and physically; he keeps blinking every few seconds like he’s losing his lucidness again.

“Archie. Do you wanna lie down? It might help you feel better.”

Archie stretches out a second later, letting himself get comfortable on his side. The top of his head presses into Betty’s thigh and she scratches at the hair behind his ear, hoping that it helps keep him relaxed.

She looks up at the rearview mirror to find Jughead looking back at them and sharing the same worried expression as her. Betty simply shakes her head then looks down at the boy next to her, wondering (to herself) how Archie could have gotten this bad without her knowing. How could she have been so blind?

It’s quiet in the car on the drive home. The ride is short enough that Archie doesn’t have enough time to drift off, but he gets close. Jughead has to shake his shoulder and say his name more than once before he perks up enough to get out of the vehicle; he keeps his hand on the inside of Archie’s arm as they walk up the front steps to the Cooper/Jones house.

The place is, miraculously, empty. Jellybean is spending the night at a friends’ and FP got called down to the station after there was an altercation down near the footbridge in Fox Forrest. In an odd way, Betty is grateful for the privacy; she’s not sure how she would’ve managed to explain this one to FP.

Up in her room- Jughead’s, hers, it’s hard to say at this point- she watches as Archie gets stuck in his own sweatshirt just trying to pull it over his head. Betty takes pity on him and helps him out, smiling at the way it makes his hair stand on end.

Archie drops onto the bed and looks at her with foggy eyes. “Why’re you laughing?”

“What? Oh, no- I wasn’t laughing at you. I promise, it’s just- the way your hair stood up, it looks like a comic book character.”

“Oh,” he says, tone quiet. “Betty?”

“Yeah?”

“…I’m really tired.” 

“You can sleep if you want to. I don’t mind you using my bed.” Betty touches his shoulder and Archie starts moving back without her even having to try.

Archie more or less flops back onto the duvet and his legs hang off the edge of the mattress, as if he doesn’t have the willpower to pull himself up. His eyelashes start to flutter, a sure sign of his succumbing to his own exhaustion.

“Just take it easy, Arch.” Betty says to him as she watches his eyes finally slip shut. “We’ll be here when you’re ready for us.”

She takes a step back from the bed and turns around, finding Jughead leaning against the door frame. Betty walks over to him, sighing deeply.

“I called Mrs. A,” Jughead says. “Gave her a heads up that he was here, but I left out the part about finding him in Pickens Park. I figured it was better not to scare her.”

“Yeah. Probably a good idea.” Betty looks down and tucks her fingers into Jughead’s palm.

“I think I’ll stay up here with him for a while. Just in case he wakes up and tries to bolt again.” 

She nods with a _hmm_ and drops her head to Jughead’s chest. Betty mutters, “I hate seeing him like this, Jug.”

“I know, me too.” He squeezes her fingers, holding them tightly between their stomachs. “But at least we can keep an eye on him now. At least he’s here.”

Betty just nods again. There’s an anxious knot in her stomach that hasn’t gone away since they pulled up to the park bench. She keeps running over everything in her head trying to find an explanation to it all but she comes up with nothing. She looks over at the clock on her desk; it’s only a quarter to two and she already feels like she’s had a full day. 

“I think I’m going to try and get some homework done,” Betty says. “I’ve got that big essay due in Mrs. Hart’s class on Tuesday. I haven’t even started it yet.”

Jughead nods with a mumbled _okay_, leaving a chaste kiss on Betty’s forehead before moving into the room.

At the top of the staircase, Betty looks back into the room. She watches as Jughead walks over to the windows and pulls the blinds shut, darkening the room. Then, he drops to a knee at the edge of the bed and starts unlacing Archie’s shoes, tugging them off his feet. 

Betty turns away after that, feeling like she’s seeing something that wasn’t meant for her, something too personal. She thinks to herself: _I hope this is something we can fix. I hope Archie isn’t too far gone to come back from this… whatever it is. _

///

Betty spends two hours at the kitchen table trying to do homework and comes up with a remarkable nothing. She can’t focus on it to save her life, spends most of the time just staring at the blank page wishing the words would come.

Frustrated with herself, she decides to distract herself with something else. There’s a stack of dishes next to the sink that hasn’t been touched in god only knows how long. She loses herself in the motion of it all; _wash, rinse, repeat_ until all of them are done. She’s drying the last glass when she hears footsteps behind her. 

Jughead stands at the counter, looking mildly surprised. “You didn’t have to do that, Betts.”

“I know, I just- I couldn’t focus on my essay. I needed to do something with my hands, keep busy.”

He nods then looks down at his watch. “It’s almost five; you up for an early dinner? We could order a pizza.” 

Betty and Jughead end up ordering _two_ pizzas. One for them (black olives and sausage) and another one for Archie (pepperoni and red peppers) in case he wakes up hungry later. By some miracle, they managed to forget that he’s even there. It’s not until much later, once the sun has set and _The Sixth Sense_ is playing on Netflix that there’s a creak behind them. 

Betty looks over her shoulder and finds Archie at the bottom of the staircase looking rumpled as well as six kinds of tired and confused.

“Hey, Archie,” Betty says, standing up from the couch. “There’s pizza in the fridge, are you hungry? We could reheat it if you want.”

“Why am I here?”

She feels that anxious knot returns to her gut. The hairs on the back of her neck stand up. “You called me, remember? We came to get you.”

Archie looks towards the door then around the whole room itself, like he’s trying to piece everything together. “Sorry, I’m not- I don’t think I’ve really woken up yet.”

“That’s okay.” Betty wants to say that he looks better than he did when she first saw him this morning, but she can’t. He still looks worn out in an all too familiar way- but at least he’s a bit more cognitive this time. At least he doesn’t look like he’ll hit the floor at any second.

“Do you wanna join us, Arch?” Jughead asks, turning around in the loveseat. “The movie just started; we could catch you up to speed.”

Archie glances up at the movie. “I’ve already seen this. The kid dies at the end, right?”

“Right actor. Wrong movie.”

“Oh,” Archie says, rubbing a hand over his face.

“Come sit, Archie,” Betty says, returning to her spot on the couch again. “Really, I think you’ll like it.” 

He complies, walking over to the couch and stretching out in the space next to Betty. Archie tucks a throw pillow under his head and lets his ankles hang off the side of the couch. “Okay. So what’s the big deal with this movie?”

“The big deal is it’s a _classic_,” Jughead remarks.

“Then why haven’t I seen it?”

“Because you’re uncultured.”

“_Hey_!”

Betty grins to herself as she listens to Archie and Jughead go on about Archie’s taste in movies for the next few minutes- ignoring the film altogether. They settle down eventually and the rest of the movie plays on with Jughead adding commentary every once and a while. Betty isn’t at all surprised when she looks over an hour into the movie and finds Archie asleep again; even when he’s not dead tired, Archie’s always been the one to fall asleep first during movies.

When the movie is finally over it’s pushing midnight and Betty can feel her own tiredness starting to get the better of her. She stretches her arms and legs out in front of her; she’s so comfortable that melt into this chair and it wouldn’t even bother her.

Next to her, Jughead clicks off the TV and groans as he stands up. “Today wiped me out; I’m gonna go to bed. Are you coming up?”

Betty glances to her left; Archie is still asleep next to her, lying on his stomach. She thinks back to earlier, how uneasy he looked after waking up alone. She would hate to do that to him again.

“I think I’ll hang out down here for a little while,” Betty says. “Just in case he wakes up confused again.”

Jughead nods knowingly before leaving them alone in the dark living room; Betty tips her head back, letting it loll against the top of the couch. She settles into the quiet, crossing her arms over her stomach. 

After a few minutes- right as she can feel her eyelids start to get heavy- Betty hears a noise to her left. She looks over and realizes it Archie making a pained sound in his sleep, curling in on the pillow he’s holding and the features of his face going tight. He mumbles something that Betty doesn’t catch but with the way that his breathing is growing erratic she can’t imagine that it was anything good.

He sounds just like he did on the phone this morning.

Not knowing how else to help, Betty reaches over and lays her hand on top of his wrist. She squeezes lightly, not enough to wake him up but enough to let Archie know she’s there. That he’s _safe_. Betty finds herself holding her breath as she waits for him to relax and fall into an easier sleep. 

As if by some form of magic, Archie takes a long, deep breath, like he’d never been panicked to begin with. Betty doesn’t remove her hand. She has a feeling that she might set him off again if she did. She moves her thumb slowly over the bone at the top of his wrist as she watches his shoulders lose their tight stance, his body relaxing again.

Though she knows he won’t hear her, Betty still finds herself quietly asking, “What could possibly be hurting you so much that you can’t even tell me about it?”

///

The sunlight breaking through the curtains is what wakes her up in the morning. It shines in her face and makes her twist away and- _wow_, does she have a crick in her neck. Picking up her head, Betty realizes that she fell asleep on the couch. She must’ve dozed off while she was watching over Archie.

Wait, Archie-

The space next to her on the couch is empty, like no one had been there to begin with; Archie must have slipped out while she was sleeping. Betty can’t say she’s surprised but she sighs anyway, frustrated with herself for letting him get away. She stands up, stretching her arms over her head. All Betty really wants to do right now is get out of these jeans she’s been wearing since yesterday and take a shower. 

As she heads to the stairs, a figure in the kitchen catches her eye. The same flash of red hair that caught her attention yesterday. Looking to her right, she finds Archie sitting at the kitchen table, his head propped up on one hand.

_He stayed. _

Betty makes her way into the kitchen, her curiosity getting the better of her. “Hey, Arch,” she says.

Archie looks over and gives her a small nod. “Hey. Sorry, did I wake you?”

“No. No, you didn’t. You’re good.” Archie nods again and Betty keeps going. “I thought you had slipped out; I woke up and you weren’t there.” 

“I thought about it,” Archie admits quietly.

“Why didn’t you?”

He shrugs. “Cause I still wouldn’t know what happened yesterday.”

Betty lets out a long breath, sitting across from him. “Do you remember any of it?”

“Just pieces of it. I kind of remember leaving my house but… everything after that is kind of foggy.” He meets Betty’s eye. “You mind filling me in?” 

“You called me, Archie. You weren’t making any sense then you just hung up on me. Jughead and I tracked your phone out to Pickens park and then we took you back here. Then you fell asleep almost as soon you showed up here and-.” 

“And we watched that ghost movie? The one Jug is always talking about?”

“Yeah. That’s right. You remember that?”

“Sort of. I remember waking up in your room but I couldn’t figure out what I was doing there. I thought it was some weird dream or something.”

Betty manages a small laugh. A part of her wants to ask what he was dreaming about last night. Wants to know what he could have possibly been thinking about that made him so restless. “Arch… what were you doing all the way out in Pickens Park by yourself?”

“I was trying to clear my head, so I went for a walk but- I think I had a panic attack instead.”

“That explains why you sounded so freaked out on the phone.”

“Yeah. To be honest I don’t even remember you guys showing up I was so out of it. I… I hadn’t slept in a couple of days.”

Betty’s eyebrows shoot to the sky. “_Days_? How many?”

“I dunno. Two, I think.” Archie lowers his voice. “I haven’t really been sleeping, since my dad…”

All at once it’s like a lightbulb went off in Betty’s head. Of course, this is grief. How could she have missed the signs? Archie’s been pushing all of them away since Fred passed, but Betty told herself that there was just something else going on that she didn’t know about. She should’ve known it was this.

“I had trouble sleeping too, after my dad died.” she tells him. “I don’t think I slept more than three hours a night in those first few weeks. It was awful. I felt like a walking zombie.”

Archie agrees, “That’s one way to put it.”

“You know you can come talk to me if you need it, Archie. That’s what friends are here for.” 

“I know, I know. I’m just, still adjusting, I guess… I should get home, before my mom wakes up. I don’t want to freak her out when I’m not there.”

“Oh, Jughead and I gave her the heads up, but yeah. That’s probably a good idea.” 

Their chairs squeak quietly against the hardwood when they push away from the table. Betty trails behind Archie as they walk to the door. There are a million different things on her mind right now, so many things that she wants to ask him. Most of them sound a lot like are you sure that you’re okay- but she keeps them to herself. She doesn’t want to push or overdo it while Archie is still in an odd headspace. 

At the door, Archie takes two steps outside before stopping and turning around slowly. “Betty?”

“Yeah, Arch?” Betty replies, looking up at him; there’s a sad look on his face that wasn’t there a moment ago. She can’t figure out what could’ve shifted his mood so suddenly; she could’ve sworn he was fine not two seconds ago-.

In a low, shaky voice he asks, “…Is it always going to hurt like this?”

Betty feels her breath get stuck in her throat. That’s not what she was expecting him to say, not in the slightest. The vulnerability of it catches her off guard, the sheer of honesty of the question itself making her mind go blank as she tries to come up with something solid to say. Something that will put him at peace- but nothing comes. Instead, she finds herself shrugging.

“I don’t know,” she says back to him, “I haven’t figured that out yet.” 

Archie nods like he had expected her to say that. He looks down and bites at his bottom lip, trying to hide how his façade is starting to slip and break.

Betty can’t just stand there and do nothing when she knows he’s hurting so she takes a step over the threshold, slipping her arms under his and hugging him around the waist. She presses her cheek into his shoulder, her grip tight around his waist. Betty knows she surprised him- it’s not like they do this a lot. Nonetheless, Archie still drapes his arms over her shoulders after he’s had second to catch up so Betty knows she hasn’t overstepped by doing this.

Neither one of them says anything at first. They just stand there, sharing the moment with each other, ignoring the rest of the world. Everything is silent except for Archie’s uneven breath in Betty’s ear, giving away his upset state. She breathes deeply, forcing her own nerves to settle. 

Before he can speak up and say anything, Betty states, “We’re going to be okay, Arch. I promise.” 

_We have to be,_ she tells herself. _This whole life thing doesn’t make sense without him in it._

**Author's Note:**

> I tried to end this like three different ways and wasn't really happy with any of them but THAT'S WHATEVER. 
> 
> Hey, thanks for reading my fic. Comments/Kudos are appreciated and encouraged. Have a great day!


End file.
